San Luis Obispo County Biographies

IRA VAN GORDEN

Submitted by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


IRA VAN GORDEN is a pioneer of California, who came to this State in 1846, He is a 
native of Lawrence, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, born February 12, 1820. His father. 
Gilbert Van Gorden, was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1779, and a farmer by 
occupation; he served in the war of 1812. He married Lucinda Ives, a native of the 
same State, and daughter of Benajah Ives, also of Pennsylvania. They were the parents 
of eleven children. His death occurred when he was ninety-seven years of age. Mr. Van 
Gordon's grandfather was a native of New York, and was a soldier in the Revolution; he 
was wounded and is pensioned by the Government. The Van Gordons originally came 
from Holland. 

Ira Van Gorden was the oldest of the family, only three of whom are now living. He 
was reared on a farm in his native State, and attended the public schools in winter and 
worked on the farm in the summer. When seventeen years of age he moved to Berrien 
County, Michigan, which was at that time a new county, and the State had just been ad- 
mitted into the Union. For two years he worked by the month, for $15 a month. He 
then removed to Bond County, Illinois, where he farmed on rented land In 1846 he re- 
moved with his family to California, and settled at the Santa Clara mission. He served 
as a soldier under General J. C. Fremont, for three months, as long as his services were 
needed. He then went to the San Jose mission, and from there to the redwoods, near 
Oakland, and sawed lumber with a whip-saw and made shingles. In 1848 his wife died, 
and Mr. Van Gorden took his children and went to the mines, where he mined for three 
months; the children staid with their aunt. Winter set in and he returned to the mission ; 
while mining his largest pan of gold was $776, coarse grains like wheat and some pieces 
of $3 and $4 each. At one time he struck a pocket, which lay in a crevice between slab 
rock, and he picked the gold out with a pick and knife, the amount being thirty-four 
ounces. At the San Jose mission he raised three acres of onions, and sold them on the 
ground for $4,000. From there Mr. Van Gorden went to Los Angeles County, and en- 
gaged in raising and shipping grapes, and at this business be also did well. He then went 
to San Diego County and engaged in stock-raising from 1854 to 1855. From there he 
drove 260 head of cattle and forty horses to Tulare County, where he took up Govern- 
ment land, and continued there in the cattle business for eleven years. 

He was married in 1841, in Illinois, to Miss Rebecca Harlan, a native of Indiana, 
and daughter of George Harlan, a farmer of that State. They have had three children 
two of whom survive: Jerome, now residing in Cambria, and George, residing in San 
Simeon. In 1848 Mrs. Van Gorden died. Mr. Van Gorden was again married in Tulare 
County, to Miss Agnes Mary Balaam, a native of Arkansas, of English ancestry. They 
have six children, viz.: Gilbert, Ira, Sarah, Ann Vine, Sherman and Earl. In 1868 he came 
to his present ranch in San Luis Obispo County. He purchased 4,468 acres of the 
San Simeon Ranch, and continued his stock-raising and farming. On part of the farm is 
a large dairy of 200 cows. When he first moved upon the property he lived in the old 
adobe ranch house. In 1870 he selected a secluded nook from the coast winds, and 
erected a beautiful home, where he is spending the evening of his successful life with 
his family. On the ranch he raises hay, grain, potatoes, cabbage and fruit. In 1886 Mrs. 
Van Gorden died, and he has since remained unmarried. Mr. Van Gorden was a charter 
member of the Grange. In his political views he is a Republican, and is one of the 
best known and most influential citizens in this part of the county. 

History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California  - by 
C.M. Gidney, Benjamin Brooks, Edwin M. Sheridan, Vol I, II.  -Lewis Publ. Co., 
Chicago, 1917.